How-to Fix Windows Update Not Installing Updates

[symple_box color=”gray” fade_in=”false” float=”center” text_align=”left” width=””] Last Updated 22 March 2015. This article is up to date for Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 Update Problems
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WindowsInstructed receives a lot of traffic each month, and a significant part of that traffic is looking for solutions for Windows Update Problems. We have around 50 articles for very specific Windows problems but sometimes people simply don’t get an error code, or the error code is simply solvable with common troubleshooting steps.

For those occasions I wrote this article, It covers all steps you’ll need to execute to make sure that their really is a problem. Please be aware that while this document is huge, the steps are sorted, I mean by that, that the most common solutions are at the top and the least common solutions are down in the list.

Please make sure that you try each step, and not stop when step 1 does not work, this is quite normal, however when Windows Update is working again you can  stop reading and enjoy updates! (And the bad timing of reboots…)

I hope that you’ll find your solution below. And please don’t hesitate to share this post on your favorite social media, perhaps it can help your friends, like it helped you (I hope)!

[symple_box color=”yellow” fade_in=”false” float=”center” text_align=”left” width=””] During the entire article we assume you have access to an account on the system with Administrator Rights. We suggest you make a system restore point before continuing with this article.
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Overview of all the steps

1. Clean boot your device.
2. Checking your time and date.
3. Running the automatic troubleshooter
4. Resetting your Windows Update Components
5. Running an System File Check & Running DISM to solve system corruption
6. Run a Malware Scan
7. Refreshing your system

Handy to Print

 

1. Important Step: Clean boot your device

This step should really never be skipped, a very common reason for update problems is that you have a service or program running that is causing problems with the Windows Update services or components of it. This can be diagnosed by clean booting your device and then try if updates are now successfully applying.

1. Right-click the Windows Logo in the bottom left corner of your screen.

Or press the Windows + R key at the same time, and skip to step 3. 

2. A menu will appear, now click on, Run

3. A Window “Run” will appear, now enter “msconfig” (without quotes) and press the enter key or click on OK

4. Choose Selective Startup and make sure Load Startup Items is unchecked

5. Then click on the Services tab.

6. Check the box “Hide all Microsoft Services” and then click on Disable All

7. Close MSConfig by clicking on OK, and choose to Reboot your device.

Now that all non-Microsoft services are disabled, we are going to try to apply the Windows Updates again, if they fail again, then go to the next step.